The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventor(s), to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
It is common in high-speed data communications networks to include modular jacks, such as RJ45 jacks, in network equipment. These modular jacks allow the network equipment to be interconnected quickly, easily, and reliably using network cables such as Ethernet cables. Some of these modular jacks, referred to herein as “magnetic modular jacks,” include integrated magnetic components, such as transformers and the like, that were formerly implemented outside the modular jack, for example on a printed circuit board on which the modular jack is mounted. These magnetic components several purposes, including providing signal integrity, protecting physical layer devices, and providing DC isolation. Some magnetic modular jacks also support Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology, which provides electrical power, along with data, over the network cabling.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional access chassis 1000 that includes modular magnetic jacks. The access chassis 1000 provides connections between network devices and/or between the network devices and the Internet. The access chassis 1000 includes at least one line card 1002, and at least one fabric card 1004. The line cards 1002 and fabric cards 1004 are generally implemented as printed circuit boards.
Each of the fabric cards 1004 can be connected to each of the line cards 1002 by a cable 1022 and respective backplane connectors 1024 and 1026. The line cards 1002 are connected to network devices 1006 via an Ethernet network 1008. Predetermined ports or uplink ports of one or more of the line cards 1002 may be connected to the Internet 1010. The fabric cards 1004 provide connections between the line cards 1002. The line cards 1002 provide connections between the network devices 1006 and the fabric cards 1004 and/or between the fabric cards 1004 and the Internet 1010.
Each of the fabric cards 1004 typically includes an aggregation switch 1012 and a central control module 1014. The aggregation switch 1012 provides connections between the line cards 1002. The central control module 1014 controls states of the connections, and the transfer of packets between the line cards 1002. Each of the line cards 1002 typically includes an access switch 1016 and multiple physical layer (PHY) devices 1018. The access switch 1016 provides connections between the aggregation switch 1012 located on the fabric card 1004 and the PHY devices 1018 located on the line card 1002. Each of the PHY devices 1018 is connected to a respective modular magnetic jack 1020 mounted on the line card 1002.